Maccabi Tel Aviv will face Maccabi Haifa will square off in the State Cup final after claiming victories in semifinals.

Maccabi Tel Aviv will face Maccabi Haifa in the State Cup final on Thursday
night after both teams claimed distinctively different victories in the
semifinals at Nokia Arena on Tuesday.

Tel Aviv wasn’t expected to have
any trouble against Maccabi Ashdod in the first semi of the night, but the
yellow-and- blue was forced to dig deep before claiming an 85-80
win.

Haifa, on the other hand, dominated Hapoel Jerusalem almost from the
tipoff of their semifinal, going on a 19-2 run at the end of the third period
and the start of the fourth on the way to a comfortable 80-61
victory.

“We quickly seized control of the game, but we lost our way and
squandered the opportunity to finish it off,” said Tel Aviv coach David Blatt,
whose team is aiming for its fourth straight cup triumph.

“Ashdod did an
excellent job and took the initiative, but we showed our character in the second
half. We have a hungry and stubborn team and even when we don’t play well we
don’t give up.”

Haifa opened an early lead and progressed to its first
final since 2009 largely thanks to its play in the paint.

A Jerome Thomas
basket opened an 11-point gap (16-5), but the Greens were only ahead by five
points (23-18) after 10 minutes.

Jerusalem was still at arm’s length at
the break (38-31), but it never really looked likely to complete a comeback and
Haifa effectively clinched the conquest early in the fourth
quarter.

Donta Smith led Haifa with 20 points, eight rebounds and six
assists, with Thomas finishing with 16 points and 12 boards.

Josh Duncan
had 18 points and eight rebounds for Jerusalem, which hasn’t reached a cup final
since 2008.

The first semifinal looked to be as good as over after just
three-and-a-half minutes, with Tel Aviv going on an 11- 0 run within 75
seconds.

Three triples in quick succession, two of which by Yogev Ohayon,
opened a 16-6 gap and Maccabi was cruising after 10 minutes, leading 30- 17
after hitting 12 of 18 field goal attempts.

The yellow-and-blue’s margin
reached 19 points in the second period (47-28) and it was still in complete
control at the break (54-41).

However, Ashdod never gave up the chase and
ate away at the deficit at the start of the second half, with a Diamon Simpson
basket bringing the team within two points (60-58) with 2:59 to play in the
quarter.

Despite its best efforts, Tel Aviv failed to put the game to bed
until the final whistle, with a Mardy Collins basket closing the margin to 83-80
with 1:35 remaining.

Ashdod’s Guni Izraeli could have tied the score with
11 seconds to play, but he missed an open three and Tel Aviv advanced while
Ashdod was left with nothing more than compliments.

Ohayon led five
Maccabi players in double-figures with 18 points, seven assists and seven
rebounds, with Sylven Landesberg adding 15 points and Nik Caner-Medley scoring
13 in the absence of the injured Lior Eliyahu.